Device for supporting and conveying materials



May 11, 1954 c. G. ALLANDER ET AL 2,678,237

DEVICE FOR SUPPORTINGAND CONVEYING MATERIALS Filed Sept. 15, 1948 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS.

CLAES GusTAF ALLANDER and SVEN WERNER WALL/N A TTORNEY May 11, 1954 c G. ALLANDER ET A1. 2,678,237

DEVICE FOR SUPPORTING AND CONVEYING MATERIALS Filed Sept. l5, 1948 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 NVENTORS.

CLAES susTAF ALMA/DEE and svi/v WERNER WALL/N.

A TTORNEY May 11, 1954 c. G. ALLANDER ET AL DEVICE FOR SUPPORTING AND CONVEYING MATERIALS 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed sept. 15, 194s FIG. 9

. fNVENTo/Qs.

CLAES GUSTAF ALL/ANDER smi 5v5/v WERNER WALL/N BY QALLW Mrz/ff ATTORNEY Patented May l1, 1954 DEVICE FOR SUPPORTING AND CONVEYING MATERIALS Claes G. Allander, Lidingo, and Sven W. Wallin, Jonkoping, Sweden, assignors to-A. B. Svenska Flakfabriken, Stockholm, Sweden Application September 13, 1948, Serial No. 49,014A

(Cl. 3D2-31) 9 Claims.

Thepresent invention relates to a device and a method of supporting and conveying articles having a substantially plane bottom surface over a conveying path provided with penetrating holes, and means for pressing out a pressure medium towards the articles through said holes from below.

The invention is mainly characterized by the fact that the pressure medium is adapted to be pressed out through perforations of the conveying path, which perforationshave a small hydraulic diameter, and is evacuated from the space between the conveying path and the articles through channels arranged through the conveying path. Other features characterizing the invention will be seen from the following more detailed description of an embodiment of same. y

. According to the inventionV the article orv articles are supported by a thin medium-nlm lying between the conveying path and the articles. The expression medium in this case denotes a medium in liquid or gaseous state. In order to make the medium-film carry the article or articles aninternal overpressure must be maintained in same, which is effected in that way that fresh pressure, medium is continuously supplied, and medium used simultaneously evacuated. If the conveying path is narrow or thearticleshave a small lower surface the pressure medium may to. a suicient high extent beled away at` thesides of the conveying path or aroundthe edges off the articles, but with respect to articles having a .large lowen surface or regarding conveying. .paths of great, width, e. g. Llmeters width or more, and articles of a band-like material, the overpressure in the film required' for the support cannot be maintained unlessthe medium is supplied to the medium-hlm through perforations of the conveying path having, a small, hydraulic diameter, and evacuation of the medium used takes place through outlet channels extending throughy the conveying path. Y

The invention is best suited for the transport: of plate-like material'asfor instance sheet metal, lumber, building plates, paper, cellulose webs, fabrics, etc. It may, however, alsobe-used for the conveyanceof other objects Vhaving aplaneor approximately.Y plane lowerY surface, suchV as chests, boxes, bricks,building blocks, etc.

It has now been described'how the articles are itself occurs in sucha mannerfthat the conveying path is made with some degrees inclination thus making the articles glide on the medium-nlm along the path. Another Way ofeffecting thev transport is to-direct the'medium jets oblicgluelyv towards the articles, so that the jet gives rise to alcomponent of'force; inthe direction of motion, which component drives the articles forwards.

These two methodsmay be combined in orderto` The mechanicalstructure of such conveyors oftencomprises alarge-number of bearings and gearings requiring` greatA costs of maintenance, particularly incase they are located in dusty and damp accommodations. the present inventionto provide conveying means Vworking totally-withoutV any -mechanically mov- Acv cording to ther simplest-,embodiment of theinvention the articles are-thus during the transportA supported by the mentionedfmedium-lm. Theable engine parts forthe transport itself.

- pressure medium consists mainly. of-air.

Some embodiments of the invention are illustratedinthe accompanying drawings by way of j example.

Figure, 1

tion, in .whichrthe` perforations for the sake of. clearness are shown having a greater diameter than .isgenerally the-case.

Figure 3 is a ,diagrammatic perspective view of f part oa conveying ,device according to. the invention, ,which is partly shown in section.

Figurel is aperspective view of part of another embodiment. of the conveying rdevice accordingA tor they invention. Figure 2 mayr be regarded as as vertical.longitudinalsecticn through Figure 4 Figure 5 is amodicationof the device accord- 5,0. supported by the medium-film. The transport Figure 7 is an elevation of part of a modifiedembodiment ofthe conveying path.

Figure 8 risa verticalsectionof the conveyingv path according; to Figure 7j; and

Figure 9 isa vertical. 'cross section ofa. conveyingpath according tothe invention.

Figurev l shows infvertical section and on ank It is thus an object of'V shows a cross section ofv an article toA be conveyedI over a conveyingpath provided withY exaggerated scale an article I having a plane lower surface 2 resting on an air lm 3 with internal. overpressure effected by blowing the air under pressure towards the object I from below a conveying path t provided with perforations having a small hydraulic diameter. The air fiowing through the perforations 5 into the space between the article I and the conveying path 4, is evacuated to the surrounding atmosphere by flowing out around the edges of the object I in the way as shown by the arrows 6. Fresh air must thus continuously be supplied through the perforations 5 in order that the article I may be kept floating on the air lrn 3. The overpressure of the air film is determined by the weight of the article I, and its pressure represents the force with which the air is blown out in the direction of the arrows 6. The distance between the upper surface of the path of transport 4 and the lower surface E of the article, when the article I is kept oating on the air lm 3, is called the floating height of the object. In order to make the consumption of airas small as possible it is desirable to keep the oating height small. The factors affecting the floating height are the weight of the object I, the size or" the lower surface 2, the hydraulic diameter of the perforations 5 and their grouping in the path of transport 4, the possibility of evacuating the air from the film between the object l and the path of transport 4 as well as the pressure with which the air is blown through the perforations 5.

The weight cf the article and size of its lower surface are determined in advance. The pressure with which the air is introduced through the perforation may easily be controlled. These factors may thus be omitted in the following discussion. The more important are the other factors for the invention. It has been found that the perforations must have a small hydraulic diameter and that it must be possible to evacuate the air from the air film through channels extending through the conveying path. Only if these conditions are kept articles of various kinds may be kept oating on a film of air on top of the path of transport.

rThe channels through the conveying path for the evacuation of air are not required inasfar as the Yarticles are small, i. e. have a small lower surface and are supported by the film of air spaced apart, so that the air to a suicient degree may be evacuated around the edges of the articles. If articles having a small lower surface are, however, arranged close by one another on the conveying path or if the lower surfaces of the articles are large, particular channels must be arranged in the path of transport for the evacuation of air from the air lm.

It is obvious that the perforations must be fairly evenly distributed over the surface of the conveying path. It is particularly convenient to let the sum of the hole area of the perforations of an optionally chosen surface of the conveying path provided with such perforations be smaller than this surface or amount to 50% of same at the utmost. Most conveniently the sum of the hole area will amount to 2-4% of the surface in order to obtain a low floating height and little consumption of air.

If the lower surface of the articles is large or the sum of the lower surfaces of several articles arranged closely together is large, the result will be that the air between the article or articles and the conveying path does not obtain a suicient outlet area at the edges of the article or articles placed closely together, which outlet area will, however, be controlled by the air itself in such a manner that the article is raised until an equilibrium is obtained or the article is blown away. In the best case van equilibrium with a comparatively great floating height is reached, which is not desirable owing to the fact that this makes the equilibrium of the article or articles unstable. If the object is very flexible it will be bent up at its edges, which is neither desirable, as this may damage the article. In such cases it is of importance that the conveying path is provided with penetrating channels giving the air the possibility to be evacuated from other places than around the edges of the article or articles, as the floating height may in this way be kept down to a low value and the article or articles supported horizontally of a film of air of substantially even thickness.

Figure 2 shows an embodiment of the invention having a conveying path surface and having perforations and channels for the evacuation of air from the air film. rThe conveying path consists of pressure cases 'l for air being pressed out through the perforations 5 towards the article 8 here shown in longitudinal section and consisting of a paperweb cardboard sheet or the like of 4 meters width or more. Between the pressure cases l there are formed channels 9 extending through and interrupting the conveying path i for the evacuation of air from the film of air. The owing directions of the air are marked by small arrows in the figure.

Figure 3 shows a perspective view of part of a conveying path according to another` embodiment of the invention. The conveying path itself is designated by II), the perforations by il and the channels interrupting the conveying path for the evacuation of air by l2. The conveying path is provided with upright side flanges I3 and forms the roof of a long pressure chamber I4, which is supplied with compressed air through the apertures I5 in the bottom plate of the chamber from one or more motor driven fans I6. The channels I2 are formed by tubes ll eX- tending through the chamber It and being solidly secured to the plate It of the conveying path andthe bottom plate of the chamber ifi. The

,l interior of the chamber It is divided into smaller chambers separated by means of transversal walls I8. These are controlled by angle irons I9 secured to the interior of the chamber. As will be seen by Figure 8 of the drawing the walls I8 may be moved, so that they will either be located on one side or the other of the apertures I5. The reason for this will be more fully described hereinafter. The channels I2 are in this figure arranged in a transversal row across the path of transport, and in the space between two such rows of channels I2 perforations II are provided.

Figure 4 shows still another embodiment of the path of transport according to the invention. Along the path of transport there run two drums 20 and ZI between which there are provided pressure cases 22. The drums 20 and 2I are connected to fans (not shown) delivering compressed air to the drums and thus also to the pressure cases 22. These are arranged in parallel to each other and at such a reciprocal distance that channels 23 are formed between the pressure cases and thus interrupt the conveying path surface for the evacuation of air. The upper surfaces 24 of the pressure cases are provided With perforatons 25 and lform ythe conveying path, which is here providedf'with side supportsfor the articles in- .theA shape of' the upper l'por'- tions of the drums 2U/andi 2l. The article here conveyed consistsof a cellulose webzii'.v

Figure 5 shows a variationof the embodimentaccording toA Figure 4. In Figure 5 thevconveying path is formed by av series offseparate pressurecases'Z'l. These are arranged inalignment with one another, so that the upper surfaces` of allpressure-cases together formthe-conveying veying path. Each pressure caser 2f1-isat reach` end provided with a fan 32v driven by allmotoror thelike, whichk fan delivers air under'pressure` to theY pressure cases 2T. The division into separate pressure cases has the-advantageof making l it easy to exchange these forY repair/and care and for the'change of the conveying path as regards its size and the position ofthe perforations at any part of the same, if for'any reasons it should be desired to change the character offtheconveying path as will be more clearlyseen by the following.

Figure 6 is still another modi'eation of thel embodiment according to Figure 4. Also in this case the conveying path is formed by a series of pressure cases 33 inthe same way as according to Figure 5 withY slits or elongated transverse channels interrupting the conveying path surface, but here the pressure cases33 are each'provided with only one fan 34. driven in a suitable manner and located at one end. ofthe cases. The cases 33 are arranged in suchr a way that-thef-ans will bearranged alternately at one side of the conveying path and the other. In this waythe fans willl be easily accessiblefor care and repair. However, all fans may be placed at one side of the conveying path,

In Figures 7 and 8 there is shown a design for the application of perforations 35 and larger channels 36 interrupting the conveying path surface for the evacuation of air in a conveying path of the type according to Figure 3.

It has now mainly been explained how the articles are supported by the air lm on the path of transport. The transport itself of the articles is most easily effected by arranging the conveying path with an inclination of some degrees, thus causing the articles to slide on the air film in the direction of transport. As the friction is very small only little resistance will occur against the transport, and good speed may be obtained. Another way of effecting the transport of the articles is to blow out air jets through the periorations in the direction of transport. The jets will then give rise to a component force in the direction of transport, thus securing the transport. Owing to the little resistance these components need only be comparatively small. The transport may also be eiected by the cooperation between these two methods. Sometimes it may be desirable to delay the movement of the articles in the direction of transport, which will then be eiected in a corresponding manner by letting the conveying path incline upwards at such a point or by directing the air jets against the direction of transport. Y

If the direction of transport according to Figure 3 is supposed to be from the left to the right 6' with respect to the objects conveyed, the air blown by means of the foremost fanl I6 into the chamber in front of the separating walll I8 willi actin such a way that when passing through the perforations lil, said air delays the object during its transport. However, if'the separating wall |8- is movedto' the other side of theropening I5, the air will flow through the perforationsv in: a direction accelerating the transport of the articles. Inboth cases the air jets will become more or less obliquely directed when escaping from the perforations. Thus a method will here be provided by which the air may bechanged and given a determined directionI of current when escaping fromv thev perforations'. The holes forming the perforations may in addition be arranged in such a manner that they give the air jets an oblique direction. Other methods of eiecting oblique directions of air jets are, for instance, the arrangement of guide rails, plates or tubes at the Y lower face of the conveying path, these rails, plates or tubes guiding the air through the per--y forations ina certain direction. In Figure-Qthere areshown some examples of rotatable guiderails or guide plates 38v which can be rotated around sha-its 39 mounted in the walls of the pressure case 4G.. These guide plates 33- give the air a lateral direction, but the same plates may also be arranged in the cross-direction of the path' of transport forr the guidancel ofthe air jets in the longitudinal direction of the path.

During the transport of the articles along the conveyingpath it sometimes occurs that thev objects approach the sides ofthe path. Therefore the path is provided with' side flanges (13; orside supports 2S, 30 preventing the objects from slid'- ing down off the path. Such side supportsv may be substituted by' other devices with the same effect. Such a device is the arrangement of the perforations in the conveyingv path in such a way that the number of perforations is greater at the side edges-of the path, whereby the articleor articles be raisedhigher-there and slideback-and towards the centre of the path on the film of air.

.- Another way is to feed the perforations at the side edges of the path with air of a higher pressure than the rest, this effecting a similar sliding of the articles towards the centre. Finally the conveying path itself may be made in such a manner thatl its upper surface is somewhat concave in cross section, and in this way the same effect is obtained.

If it is desired to divert the articles from the conveying path in lateral direction, this may easily be eiected by rst stopping the movement of the articles in any of the above-mentioned ways, and then imparting a new movement to the objects in the desired direction by using any of said methods for effecting the motion (see for instance Figure 9).

The perforations may have any arbitrary form with regard to the holes but a round shape is preferable from a manufacturing point of view. The pressure cases 2 and 33 are generally like each other as regards the size, design and number of perforations, but a number of substituting pressure cases may be provided having perforations of another design, number and size to be used when required in order to obtain another movement of the articles conveyed.

The invention is not limited to the embodiments as described hereinbefore and illustrated in the drawing, but modications of these embodiments may be considered Within the scope of the invention.

Having now described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by United States Letters Patent, is:

1. In a supporting and conveying apparatus comprising a surface providing a conveying path and having substantially uniformly distributed small apertures therein, and means to force uid through said apertures to support articles having a lower surface on a fluid cushion in spaced relation to the conveying path surface, the improvement comprising: means providing passages interrupting said conveying path surface between groups of apertures providing a fluid conducting path of larger area than said apertures for escape of fluid from the space between the conveying path surface and the inner portion of the lower surface of articles being transported.

2. An apparatus as specified in claim 1 wherein said means are located at uniform intervals relative to said apertures.

3. An apparatus as specified in claim 1 wherein said means comprise channels elongated transversely of the conveying path surface.

4. An apparatus as specified in claim 3 wherein said conveying path surface comprises the upper walls of a plurality of iiuid pressure housings separated by said channels, each housing having means to force iiuid through the apertures thereof.

5. An apparatus as specified in claim l wherein said conveying path surface comprises the upper wall of a fluid pressure housing, and said means extends through said wall and the opposite wall of the pressure housing.

6. An apparatus as specified in claim 1 wherein said perforate surface comprises the upper wall of a iiuid pressure housing having an inlet in the lower wall for admission of uid under pressure; a removable partition between said walls, and means on opposite sides of said inlet to alternatively receive said partition.

7. An apparatus as specified in claim 1 wherein the combined area of the perforations in the interval between passages constitutes about one forty-ninth to one twenty-fourth of the imperiorate surface area in said interval.

8. In apparatus for handling fibrous cement sheets in plastic condition, the combination of a table having a hollow top, the upper surface of the top being formed with a plurality of planar areas containing small perforations, the areas being separated by passages narrower than the areas and extending lengthwise of the table, and means for supplying air beneath the top of the table to escape upwardly through the perforations and float a sheet above the table top, excess air beneath the sheet escaping through the passages.

9. In apparatus for conveying an article having an extensive lower surface over a conveying surface providing a conveying path, said conveying surface having normally open small apertures therethrough substantially uniformly distributed: means' supplying iiuid to iiow through said openings against said article surface at a Vpressure to constantly maintain said article above and out of contact with the conveying surface; said conveying surface having passages between apertures connecting with the space between said article and conveying surface for escape of iiuid from said space intermediate the boundary edges of said article surface, said passages communicating with the atmosphere within said boundary edges.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 544,969 Dodge Aug. 20, 1895 662,574 McGary Nov. 27, 1900 756,600 Dodge Apr. 5, 1905 898,775 Norton Sept. 15, 1908 994,144 Fowler June 6, 1911 2,176,307 Lamb et al Oct. 17, 1939 2,538,972 Magnani Jan. 23, 1951 

